The Daily · The New York Times

The Case of Kristie Metcalfe

March 13, 2026·49 min·4 clips
Christy Metcalf learns a new white male hire earns $24,000 more, forcing her to see undeniable discrimination.
This episode investigates the case of Christy Metcalf, a Black lawyer in Mississippi who faced pay discrimination from the state Senate. It explores her fight for justice through the EEOC and DOJ, highlighting how political changes under the Trump administration led to the dismissal of her strong civil rights case, revealing broader shifts in enforcement priorities.

As heard by us

A sharp civil rights case study connects a DOJ priority shift to one Black attorney's pay-discrimination fight.

The Case of Kristie Metcalfe turns a broad Justice Department shift into a close, human-scale story. The episode frames the Trump administration's Civil Rights Division as moving away from race-discrimination cases and toward priorities such as transgender women in sports and…

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Why you'd press play

Follow one pay-discrimination case as DOJ civil-rights priorities shift and an in-progress case gets tossed aside.

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